Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 99-09-16
MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Thessaloniki, September 16, 1999
SECTIONS
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
NEWS HEADLINES
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01 FUNERAL OF MR. KRANIDIOTIS TO BE HELD IN ATHENS
TOMORROW
[02] STATE TO CONDUCT INVESTIGATION OVER AIR TRAGEDY
[03] ATHENS OBSERVATORY ENCOURAGES CALM OVER AFTERSHOCKS
[04] AMBASSADORS SIGN BOOK OF CONDOLENCES AT FOREIGN
MINISTRY
[05] MPA COLLECTS FUNDS ON ITS INTERNET SITE FOR QUAKE
VICTIMS
[06] THESSALONIKI WAS LOCALE OF KGB COVERT PLAN, SAYS FORMER
SPY
[07] STRONG AFTERSHOCK RATTLES ATHENIANS, 3.9 ON RICHTER
SCALE
[08] TOMORROW THE LAST GOODBYE TO YIANNOS KRANIDIOTIS
[09] MEETING ON THE PROBLEMS CAUSED BY THE EARTHQUAKE IN
ATHENS
[10] FIVE GREEK FOOTBALL TEAMS ARE PLAYING FOR THE UEFA CUP
[11] THE PILOT OF THE ILL-FATED FALCON STATES THAT THE PLANE
PLUNGE WAS THE RESULT OF AN AUTOMATIC PILOT FAILURE
[12] MESSAGE OF COMPASSION TO THE EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS BY THE
NAFPLIO PRISON INMATES
[13] 14 CHINESE BUSINESSMENT LOOK FOR BUSINESS PARTNERS FROM
NORTHERN GREECE
[14] THE EUROPEAN POPULAR PARTY WILL BACK GIORGOS
ANASTASOPOULOS FOR THE MEDIATOR POSITION
[15] BERNARD KUSCHNER WILL BE IN ATHENS TOMORROW
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[16] ALBRIGHT: KRANIDIOTIS EMBODIED THE BEST OF GREEK
DIPLOMACY
[17] THE NEW ARCHBISHOP OF AMERICA TO BE ENTHRONED ON
SATURDAY
[18] TURKEY'S PRESIDENT OFFERS CONDOLENCES OVER AIR TRAGEDY
[19] WORLD LEADERS EXPRESS SORROW OVER DEATH OF KRANIDIOTIS
[20] GREECE, TURKEY RESUME THIRD ROUND OF TALKS
[21] TURKISH PREMIER INSISTS ON INTRANSIGENT STANCE OVER
CYPRUS
[22] GREEK AND TURKISH SINGERS IN A CONCERT IN TURKEY FOR
THE RELIEF OF THE EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS
[23] THE FYROM PARLIAMENT WILL DISCUSS THE AGREEMENT WITH
THE GREEK PETROLEUM COMPANY TOMORROW
NEWS IN DETAIL
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01 FUNERAL OF MR. KRANIDIOTIS TO BE HELD IN ATHENS
TOMORROW
The funeral of Greece's alternate Foreign Minister
Yiannos Kranidiotis will be held in Athens tomorrow
afternoon, at public expense.
Mr. Kranidiotis and five more individuals, including
his only son Nicholas, were killed on Tuesday night when
their Falcon jet en route to Bucharest encountered severe
air turbulence and plunged from 23,000 to 5,000 feet (7,300
to 1,500 meters).
The other victims are Nikos Assimakopoulos, a police
lieutenant; Dimitris Pantazopoulos, a journalist for the
state-run ERT network; Nina Assimakopoulou, a journalist
for the state-run radio broadcaster (ERA), and flight
engineer Michael Papadopoulos. Their funerals will be held
today.
[02] STATE TO CONDUCT INVESTIGATION OVER AIR TRAGEDY
Greece's Minister of Transportation Tasos Mantelis, has
vowed that a thorough investigation will be held over the
air tragedy that cost the lives of alternate Foreign
Minister Yiannos Kranidiotis and five others.
"The investigation will to go as high as it needs to,"
Mr. Mantelis stressed. A joint committee of Romanian and
Greek aviation experts in examining the causes that led the
jet into a free fall. The aircraft's second black box will
be forwarded to a German lab for examination.
In Greece meanwhile, a classified personal document
given to the civil aviation director Dionysis Kallofonos,
drawn last year, states that the Falcon transporting the
Alternate Minister and his entourage had undergone technical
malfunctioning last year which had not been repaired in a
timely manner and had caused severe problems.
[03] ATHENS OBSERVATORY ENCOURAGES CALM OVER AFTERSHOCKS
The seismic aftershocks are a normal and expected
phenomenon, according to the Athens Observatory, which
responded to the rising concerns over a report forwarded to
the state claiming to forecast earthquakes. The report, sent
to the Mister of Environment, Planning and Public Works
Costas Laliotis by the VAN group of seismologists, claims
that an earthquake is imminent, although it does not state
when or where it is expected to take place.
[04] AMBASSADORS SIGN BOOK OF CONDOLENCES AT FOREIGN
MINISTRY
All the ambassadors of European Union countries have
signed the book of condolences that has been opened at the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, opened in memory of the
country's alternate Foreign Minister Yiannos Kranidiotis who
was killed Tuesday night in an air accident.
The ambassadors of Argentina, Switzerland, Turkey,
Yugoslavia, Russia,
Canada, Lebanon, India, Japan, Egypt, China, Indonesia and
the representatives of FYROM and the Palestinian diplomatic
mission have also signed the book.
[05] MPA COLLECTS FUNDS ON ITS INTERNET SITE FOR QUAKE
VICTIMS
The Macedonian Press Agency's effort to collect funds
for Athens' earthquake victims has been met with success, as
its home page on its Internet server, created solely for
this purpose has been accessed by contributors throughout
the world.
The MPA, wishing to contribute to the offered
assistance, established the home page, which can be found at
www.mpa.gr, in order to facilitate those who wish to
provide economic aid by using their credit cards.
A bank account has been set up at Egnatia Bank and the
collected sum will be sent to the appropriate state
authorities who in turn will distribute the funds as needed.
Those wishing to provide economic relief to the
earthquake's victims can contact MPA's site on the Internet
and then transfer to the relevant homepage.
[06] THESSALONIKI WAS LOCALE OF KGB COVERT PLAN, SAYS FORMER
SPY
A war would have erupted between Greece and Turkey had
the KGB gone ahead with its plan to detonate a bomb planted
at Kemal Ataturk's home in Thessaloniki in April of 1969,
thereby leading to NATO's fragmentation in the already-
sensitive region of the eastern Mediterranean, according to
Vasili Mitrokhin who was working then as chief archivist for
the FCD, the foreign-intelligence arm of the KGB.
In his 700-page book titled "ิhe Sword and the Shield:
The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of KGB", the
author details the aforementioned scenario in three pages
with an admittedly high degree of credibility, as the former
spy was responsible for checking and sealing approximately
300,000 KGB files, allowing him unrestricted access to one
of the world's most closely guarded archives.
In April of 1969, a KGB classified document coded the
Thessaloniki operation as "Yaytso" (Egg), which inferred the
placement of explosives ("bouquet") at Kemal Ataturk's house
("vase").
The operation would have to seem like the move was
made by a Greek from the then-Constantinople, disgruntled
over the situation of the Greek minority in Turkey.
Kemal's house is located on the same terrace as
Thessaloniki's Turkish consulate, a two-storey building.
According to the book, the "vase" was being guarded round
the clock by two Greek policemen.
The nearby bushes were determined as the best place to
hide the "bouquet", a mere one meter away from the "vase".
Since no one was allowed to access the "vase", it was
deemed that the best time to conduct the operation would be
at dusk. The explosive device would have been wrapped in a
Greek newspaper published in Turkey, although the plan was
not to cause great damage to the building.
The "gardener", the person to place the explosives,
would have to hold a passport from a country neutral to
Greece, such as the United States, United Kingdom, West
Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Canada, etc.) but in no
case could the "gardener" be a citizen of Holland, Belgium
or Scandinavian countries.
One day following his arrival in Athens, the "gardener"
would rent a car and spend a few days in the Greek capital
and its suburbs.
In turn, he would travel the route Athens-Patras-
Epidauros-Corinth-Athens. Upon his arrival there, he would
stay in a hotel in order to await for the signal to pick up
the "bouquet" from a vacant mailbox. The operation were to
take place the next day.
After having received the "bouquet", the "gardener"
would take the train which departed Athens at 11.42 and
arrived in Thessaloniki at 19.29. He would travel first
class. In Thessaloniki he would not stay in a hotel. Being
dusk, the "gardener" would find the right way to move about.
He would go to the city's castles region and would place the
"flowers" (parts of the explosive mechanism) into the
"bouquet". Then he would exit from the northern gate of the
castles and would arrive at the rear of the "vase" in about
15-20 minutes.
The "gardener" could place the "bouquet" in the plants
that were located at the railing of the "vase", or opt to
throw it in the garden.
Following the explosion, the "gardener" would walk
about 20 meters, ending into St. Demetrius Street, heading
towards the stadium until he found a garbage bin where he
would bury the purse in which he had carried the "bouquet".
In turn, he would depart via train or plane for Athens
and would purchase his ticket ten minutes prior to departure
by giving only his last name.
KGB never went ahead with the aforementioned plan. On
May 12, 1969, it dispatched a document, temporarily shelving
the plan, with the possibility of re-opening the file at a
later time.
In writing his book, Mitrokhin collaborated with
Christopher Andrew who is head of the faculty of history at
Cambridge University and one of the world's foremost
historians of international intelligence (KGB, For the
President's Eyes Only, are among his works).
[07] STRONG AFTERSHOCK RATTLES ATHENIANS, 3.9 ON RICHTER
SCALE
A strong aftershock measuring 3.9 on the Richter scale
rattled Athenians this morning at 11.12.
The quake's epicenter was located at the same area as
the earthquake which devastated Athens on September 7.
[08] TOMORROW THE LAST GOODBYE TO YIANNOS KRANIDIOTIS
Two of the air tragedy victims were buried in Athens
today. The funeral of journalist Dimitris Pantazopoulos was
held in Marousi and airplane mechanic Nikos Papadopoulos'
funeral in Paleo Iraklio. The funeral of Greek national
radio, ERA, journalist Nina Asimakopoulou will be held in
her birthplace the town of Atalanti at 4pm today, while
police officer Nikos Asimakopoulos will be buried in Athens'
B' Cemetery this afternoon.
Yiannos Kranidiotis' funeral will be held at Athens A'
Cemetery tomorrow. The funeral service will be held at 1pm
at the church of St. Dionisios Areaopagitis in Kolonaki,
while he will be lay in state at 10am tomorrow morning.
Meanwhile, Greek national television ERT cameraman
Panagiotis Poulos, who is seriously injured is fighting for
his life at a Bucharest hospital, while Yiannos Kranidiotis'
diplomatic office director Grigoris Papadopoulos has been
transferred to an Athens hospital.
[09] MEETING ON THE PROBLEMS CAUSED BY THE EARTHQUAKE IN
ATHENS
A meeting on the problems caused by the earthquake to
factory plants and trade enterprises in the wider region of
Athens and the way of the implementation of the measures
decided by the government, was held at the ministry of
development presided over by minister of development
Evangelos Venizelos.
In statements he made immediately after the meeting,
Mr. Venizelos stressed that the measures of the government
are aimed at the safety of the people.
[10] FIVE GREEK FOOTBALL TEAMS ARE PLAYING FOR THE UEFA CUP
Five Greek football teams are playing for the UEFA Cup
and have declared that they are ready to bring a positive
result and make the first step toward being qualified to the
next phase of the European football event.
The team of PAOK will play in the former soviet
republic of Georgia against Lokomitiv Tblisi, while the
football field of Harilaou in Thessaloniki will live unique
moments as ARIS will host the Swiss team Servett. AEK will
play against Torpento Kiutaisi in the former soviet republic
of Georgia and PANATHINAIKOS will play in Slovenia against
Gorica, while IONIKOS will host the French team of Nantes.
[11] THE PILOT OF THE ILL-FATED FALCON STATES THAT THE PLANE
PLUNGE WAS THE RESULT OF AN AUTOMATIC PILOT FAILURE
The Falcon's pilot Yiannis Androulakis attributed the
air tragedy, in which Greek deputy foreign minister Yiannos
Kranidiotis was killed together with other 5 people, to a
failure of the plane's automatic pilot. According to
information reported by Athens radio station "Flash", the
pilot maintained that the plane had started the landing
procedure when it was at 23.000 feet.
The order given to the automatic pilot was for a
descent of 10 degrees when 5 of the passengers moved to the
back of the plane, among them Yiannos Kranidiotis to brief
the journalists accompanying him in his trip to Bucharest.
This resulted to a 1 degree deviation from the set course.
In such cases the automatic pilot itself corrects the
deviation in order to restore the balance. But instead of
correcting the deviation with the addition of 1 degree it
gave the wrong order for a 20degree correction to the
plane's course.
The pilots became aware of what happened and tried to
disengage the automatic pilot in order to use the manual
navigation system However, they found out that there was
failure in its operation and the Falcon was on an
uncontrolled 30degrees descent with a speed of 300
kilometers per hour, while at the same time it rotated
around its axis.
The pilots managed to disengage the automatic pilot at
3.000 feet and took over the navigation of the plane just
seconds before it crushed to the ground.
This testimony has a special weight in the shadow of
the inquiry on the causes of the air tragedy and especially,
after the revelation that a year and a half ago a document
had been submitted mentioning that the plane had to undergo
an urgent technical inspection.
According to the Athens newspaper "TA NEA", a similar
incident happened in December of 1998 when prime minister
Kostas Simitis was on his way to Vienna together with
Yiannos Kranidiotis. The Falcon plunged while preparing for
landing but the sadden descent did not last long and all the
passengers were saved because the order to fasten their seat-
belts had already been given. When the prime minister asked
to be informed on what happened he got the response that the
weather was bad and there was strong turbulence.
[12] MESSAGE OF COMPASSION TO THE EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS BY THE
NAFPLIO PRISON INMATES
The Nafplio prison inmates have send a message of
compassion with their move to collect the sum of 84.000
drachmas for the earthquake victims in Athens by offering
the little savings they had.
The prison director has already deposited the money to
the account which has opened in the Bank of Greece for the
relief of the earthquake victims.
[13] 14 CHINESE BUSINESSMENT LOOK FOR BUSINESS PARTNERS FROM
NORTHERN GREECE
Fourteen Chinese businessmen will be in Thessaloniki
tomorrow to look for business partners from northern Greece
in the sectors of exports and constructions.
According to a statement by Thessaloniki's Commerce and
Industry Chamber, the Chinese mission will be made up of
businessmen from the Promotion of International Trade
Council and by members of the Guangxi Chamber.
[14] THE EUROPEAN POPULAR PARTY WILL BACK GIORGOS
ANASTASOPOULOS FOR THE MEDIATOR POSITION
The European Popular Party parliamentary group will
back Mr. Giorgos Anastasopoulos' bid for the position of the
European mediator. The decision was made after a proposal
tabled by Greek Euro-deputy Marietta Yiannakou on behalf of
the party of New Democracy.
The new mediator will be elected in October in the
plenary session of the European parliament and the
candidatures will be submitted by September 24. The
mediator's five-year term will start on January 1, 2000 and
his/her duty is to facilitate the access of the EU citizens
to the European Union institutions.
[15] BERNARD KUSCHNER WILL BE IN ATHENS TOMORROW
UN secretary-general special representative in Kosovo
Bernard Kuschner will attend the funeral of deputy foreign
minister Yiannos Kranidiotis that will be held in Athens
tomorrow.
Mr. Kuschner will be in Athens to attend a special
ceremony organized by the Economic University of Athens
during which he will be honored.
Mr. Kuschner, who is known as the founder of the
"Doctors Without Borders" international humanitarian
organization and France's former health minister, heads the
temporary UN administration in Kosovo and has the political
responsibility for the reconstruction of the Serb province.
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[16] ALBRIGHT: KRANIDIOTIS EMBODIED THE BEST OF GREEK
DIPLOMACY
US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has conveyed
"heartfelt condolences" to her Greek counterpart for the
tragic death of Greece's Alternate Foreign Minister Yiannos
Kranidiotis and five other persons, traveling with him to
Bucharest.
Ms. Albright said Mr. Kranidiotis "embodied the
best of Greek diplomacy" and added "his dedication to
finding a permanent and peaceful solution to the Cyprus
question will continue to inspire our own efforts."
[17] THE NEW ARCHBISHOP OF AMERICA TO BE ENTHRONED ON
SATURDAY
The enthronement ceremony of the new Archbishop of
America Demetrios will be held on Saturday, September 18 at
the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in New York, and will be
officiated by the former Archbishop of North and South
America Iakovos.
Archbishop Demetrios,71, was born at Thessaloniki in
1928. An honors graduate of the University of Athens School
of Theology (1946-1950), he also received his Doctorate of
Theology from the University of Athens in 1977.
He traveled to the United States in 1965 and enrolled
at Harvard University where he was awarded a Ph.D (with
distinction) in 1972.
In June of 1993 he left the United States where he had
spent over 20 years, and returned to Greece to pursue full-
time scholarly research and writing and assumed
responsibilities at the Archdiocese of Athens.
For eleven years he served as Distinguished Professor
of Biblical Studies and Christian Origins at Holy Cross
Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, MA. He also
taught at Harvard Divinity School as Visiting Professor of
New Testament. He has published extensively, including three
major books:
Authority and Passion (1987), The Transcendent God of
Eugnostos (1991), and Christ, the Pre-existing God (1992).
The newly elected Archbishop was ordained a deacon in
1960 and priest in 1964. He was elected titular Bishop of
Vresthenis in 1967 as auxiliary bishop to the Archbishop of
Athens with primary responsibility for the programs and
theological education of the clergy.
In 1968, he was elected Metropolitan of Attika and
Megaridos, not accepting the election because a military
junta was ruling Greece at that time.
Archbishop Demetrios speaks Coptic, English, French,
Greek, German, Hebrew and Latin. His brother, Antonis
Trakatellis, a biochemistry professor and former Rector of
the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, is currently
serving a second term as a Greek member of the European
Parliament.
[18] TURKEY'S PRESIDENT OFFERS CONDOLENCES OVER AIR TRAGEDY
Turkish President Suleyman Demirel has forwarded his
condolences to his Greek counterpart Kostis Stephanopoulos,
over the tragic loss of alternate Foreign Minister Yiannos
Kranidiotis who was killed Tuesday night in an air accident
along with five others.
President Demirel stated that Mr. Kranidiotis offered
valuable services to Greece, adding that Turkey "shares the
sorrow of the Greek people owing to the loss of a noted
diplomat and political man."
Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem also called his
Greek counterpart
George Papandreou and expressed his condolences over the
loss.
[19] WORLD LEADERS EXPRESS SORROW OVER DEATH OF KRANIDIOTIS
Upon the confirmation of the news that Greece's
alternate Foreign Minister Yiannos Kranidiotis was killed in
an air accident on Tuesday night, foreign ministers around
the world expressed their sorrow and offered their
condolences to Greece.
British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said he was
saddened by the news.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer sent his
condolences to the
victims' families through his telegram to his Greek
counterpart George Papandreou.
The government of Israel also expressed its
condolences, as Israeli FM David Levy sent Mr. Papandreou a
telegram.
In Athens, US ambassador Nicholas Burns issued a
statement offering
his condolences to the Greek people . Mr. Burns termed the
death a "huge loss for Greece." Speaking at a press
conference organized by the Hellenic-American Business
Council the US envoy also stressed that Mr. Kranidiotis was
courageous supporter of the national interests of Greece and
Cyprus.
In Vienna, the president of the Austrian federal
parliament Heinz Fischer expressed his profound grief and
condolences.
In Sofia, Bulgarian FM Nadejda Michailova also
forwarded as telegram of condolences, wherein she attributes
the progress made in Greek-Bulgarian relations to Mr.
Kranidiotis' efforts.
The Foreign Minister of the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia Zivadin Jovanovic expressed his profound sorrow
in a telegram to Mr. Papandreou.
Cyprus has declared a three-day mourning period with
flags flying at half mast to mourn Kranidiotis' death.
[20] GREECE, TURKEY RESUME THIRD ROUND OF TALKS
Greek and Turkish diplomatic delegations resumed their
third round of talks in Ankara yesterday, on a senior
foreign ministry officials' level, with the discussion
focusing on cultural and multilateral cooperation.
The Greek delegation is expected to discuss issues
regarding personal security.
[21] TURKISH PREMIER INSISTS ON INTRANSIGENT STANCE OVER
CYPRUS
Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit has reiterated his
intransigent stance over the Cyprus issue, by stating that
Ankara will make no concession on this matter, despite
warming Greek-Turkish relations following the earthquakes in
both countries.
Speaking to the Associated Press, Mr. Ecevit said that
the issue of Cyprus is completely separate from Greek-
Turkish relations and made groundless allegations of fears
by Turkish- Cypriots of a "so-called genocide", similar to
Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo.
[22] GREEK AND TURKISH SINGERS IN A CONCERT IN TURKEY FOR
THE RELIEF OF THE EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS
A big concert under the title "Earthquake-Peace-Aid for
the Earthquake victims" will be held in Turkey on September
22 with the participation of Greek and Turkish popular
singers. In the concert participate singers Antonis Remos,
Angelos Dionisiou and Natasa Theodoridou from Greece and
Netzo, Azda Pekkan, Nukhet Duru, Kenan Dogulu, Fedon, Burzu
Gunes, Tsiguli from Turkey as well as the music groups
Mogolar and Destan also from Turkey.
According to the Turkish newspaper "Hurriyet", the
Greek singers will arrive in Turkey on September 21 and the
money collected will be donated to the earthquake victims by
Turkish singer Netzo, chairman of the POPSAV company which
organized the concert.
[23] THE FYROM PARLIAMENT WILL DISCUSS THE AGREEMENT WITH
THE GREEK PETROLEUM COMPANY TOMORROW
Tomorrow's session of FYROM's parliament is expected to
be crucial as the deputies will be called to ratify again
the bilateral agreement with Greece for the buyout of 54% of
the shares of the FYROM oil refinery OKTA by the Greek
Petroleum company and the construction of the Skopje-
Thessaloniki oil pipe line.
This important agreement that makes Greece the number 1
country regarding its investments in FYROM had been ratified
by the parliament last July but FYROM president Kiro
Gligorov had refused to sign the presidential decree to put
the agreement in effect.
President Gligorov, whose term in office ends in a few
weeks, refused to sign the decree alleging that the
agreement will be damaging for the country because,
according to his point of view, it will lead to a state
monopoly in the supply of petroleum in which one partner is
a state-owned company as in the case of the Greek Petroleum
Company and the other one is not. Also, in an interview with
the BBC last August, he had stated that if the Greek
Petroleum Company gets the majority of OKTA's shares it
could sell them without its consent to the Yugoslav state
oil company "Yugopetrol".
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